Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha: tributes made to Leicester owner at Cardiff City – video

The final whistle had blown 10 minutes previously and Leicester’s players, drained in ways only they will be able to convey, stood in communion with the travelling supporters who had packed into the east corner. Most of those in the stand were still wearing the white shirts handed out earlier in the day, which bore Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha’s image and a message in tribute to the club’s late owner; all were in full voice and, between a hymnbook-full of songs lauding heroes from recent years, one chant rang clear above them all: “Champions of England, you made us sing that.”

This was always going to be a difficult day, but it ended up feeling uplifting, too. In other words, it was exactly the note everyone touched by last Saturday’s tragedy would have hoped to strike and when Demarai Gray clipped in a neatly taken winner 10 minutes after half-time the emotional celebrations left no doubt about Leicester’s appetite to give Vichai a fitting send-off.

They will do that more formally over the next few days in Thailand, the majority of the squad having flown straight from Cardiff Airport to Bangkok after the game to attend Vichai’s funeral, but this turned into a celebration of eight transformative years in charge: an afternoon nobody had ever wanted but one in which everyone responded to their utmost credit.

“We wanted to do it for him and his family today,” said Kasper Schmeichel, the Leicester goalkeeper, said. “Every single player wanted to get out there; there was no pressure from anyone but everyone jumped at the chance. We’re glad we’ve come away with a win that we can take to Thailand and we hope we did his family proud.”

Schmeichel embraced every one of his team-mates, holding his captain, Wes Morgan, for a telling extra few seconds, before they lined up around the centre circle for a minute’s silence before kick-off. The entire travelling staff and non-playing squad joined them to form a group of more than 40; that idea came from the players and, while the warm-ups had given a sound impression of business as usual, it presented an arresting image that struck home the extent to which Leicester’s collective has been shaken to the core.

They were received beautifully by Cardiff, whose task in staging an occasion clouded by such a ghastly pall was entirely unenviable. The host club met it with grace, reverence and class. Inside the match-day programme a dedication from the Cardiff owner, Vincent Tan, the CEO, Ken Choo, and the chairman, Mehmet Dalman, described Vichai as “a true pioneer and visionary‚ whose legacy will live forever”.

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A number of their fans gathered to applaud the Leicester squad as they arrived and the locals were generous with their acclaim, too, as they went through their drills an hour later. They joined their visitors in passing around a Thai flag banner before kick-off; a bouquet was also laid in Vichai’s memory and the sense was one of intense kinship, on a football level and several deeper.

Neil Warnock and his players had made little mention of their own needs but would, on a normal day, have earmarked this as a game from which to take points for their relegation battle. On the pitch they showed no inclination to offer favours, dominating the first half-hour and hitting the woodwork through Victor Camarasa’s free-kick.

Perhaps Leicester had needed time to clear their heads or perhaps they had to earn the right for their quality to dominate; either way, they gained a foothold and should have won a penalty before half-time when Lee Probert failed to see Sol Bamba had flicked Jamie Vardy’s effort on to the bar with his hand.

That did not matter. Gray settled the issue, finishing Ben Chilwell’s cross clinically, and ripped off his shirt to reveal another reading: “For Khun Vichai”. Whether Probert really had to get out the yellow card that he sheepishly held up feels like too cheap a debate for the occasion; the rejoicing was prolonged and Leicester had few alarms after that.

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“We had to find a good balance between emotion, self-control and desire,” said Claude Puel. “It was fantastic to share this good result with our fans at the end. It was the first step forward.”

More than that, it was a homage to the gigantic leaps Leicester took under a man they will give thanks to forever.